Antiaircraft gun



Sept. 17, 1935.

w. w, FERG us 2,014,762

, ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN Fiied Fangs, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 17, 1935. w. w. FERGUS ANTIAIRGRAFT GUN Filed Feb. 28, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 :EIM

1009M IV: A: f era as.

Sept. 17, 1935. w. w. FERGUS ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN Filed Feb: 28, 1934 Sheets-Sheef 3 Patented Sept. 11,1935 I i 2,014,762

UNITED STATES PATENT emcemmmca g ll r son William w. Fergus, West Newton, Pa. application February as, 1934, sename. 113,310

(case-s1) This invention relates to anti-aircraft guns and supported thereby and swung at-w n t various has for its object the provision of a mechanism angular positionsin a vertical plane. Within t whereby the un may b ead trained up n apbody of the head is formed a recess or cavity a proaching aircraft whether operated in daylight opening through the top of the head-a d.

5 or at night, and a further object of the invention municating with'the lower end of said cavity is i is to provide a simple construction whereby the an arcuate passage In which extends through may be disposed at various angles or set in a the head,'and an arcuate rack II is mounted in vertical position to be trained upon aircraft which the head to extend through said arcuate passag may be traveling directly overhead or maybe the rack and the passage having the pintle 6 l0 trained upon one'side for more convenient firing their center.. An operating shaft i2 is journaled at an aircraft which may be directly approaching in the sides of the head and extends through the gun. These several objects, and other objects the lower portion of the cavity 9, a pinion I: which will appear incidentally in the'course of being secured upon the shaft within the cavity the following description, are attained in such and meshing with the rack II, as will be under- 1 an apparatusasis illustrated in the accompany Stood p n reference to Figures 2 and 5, so that 1 drawings, and the invention resides in certain if the shaft'be turned the rack willbe caused novel features which will be particularly defined to move endwise and thereby swing the ring 8 in the appended claims. in a vertical plane. The shaft I2 is provided at In the drawings, I one end with a cra or other suitable handle Figure 1 is a. side elevation of an anti-aircraft I4 and mounted wit n the head is a latch I5 20 gun embodying the presentinvention, which is adapted to engage the pinion l3 and hold Figure 2 is a similar view, partly in section, the same against accidental turning so that nor-f showing the gun adjusted to be fired at a plane mally the parts will be locked in the position in which is directly overhead. Y which they may be set. In the present instance,

Figure 3 is a plan view, with parts in section, the latch is inthe form of a spring-pressed pin or g; of the gun as it appears in the position shown in rod having a knob or enlargement at its outer Figure 2, end and having its inner end arranged to engage Figure 4 is a detail section of the mounting of between teeth of the pinion l3, as clearly shown the gun and sight bar whereby pivotal movement in Figure 2, but any other suitable form of latch of these elements is permitted, may be employed, if preferred. It will be under- 6 Figure 5 is an enlarged detail on the line I-5 stood that the latch is spring-pressed into enof Figure 3. r V gagement with the pinion and when the position In carrying outthe present invention, there is of the parts is to be changed the ,latch is withprovided a pedestal or supporting base I which drawn} bya pull exerted thereon in opposition to should be of substantial construction so that the spring. 7 under all conditions it will remain steady wherever The ring 8 is provided in itsinner periphery it may be placed. Preferably, the pedestal with a series of seats in which are mounted rollsomewhat heavy and is to be secured'in a fixed rs, 6 whi h pr j t s m what'b yond the inner location. In the particular design shown inthe periphery of the ring and engage in an annu= 40 drawings, the pedestal is tapered upwardly and lar groove l1 formed in the outer circumference 40 is provided with a central opening through its of. an inner ring i8 which is disposed concentric upper end to receive a swivel stem 2 depending with the outer ring, as shown clearly in Figfrom a head 3 and rotatably fitted in said opening. ures 2 and 3. The outer ring consequently serves 0n the lower end of the stem, a retaining nut], as a support for the inner ring which may be or other retaining element, is mounted and is readily turned about the common center of the 45 turned home against an opposing surface of the rings but cannot be readily detached therefrom pedestal so that, while the stem and head will be and in order to facilitate assembling of the parts, firmly held upon the pedestal, theymay be turned it will be noted that the outer ring is split, as therein to bring the gun, mounted on the head, shown at i9, so that it may be readily brought intoany desired position in a horizontal plane; into position about the inner .ring, .the ends of At the upper end of the head 3, on one side thereof, the outer ring being constructed to overlap whereare lugs or perforated ears 5 which receive a' pintle by they may receive securing bolts or screws, as 6 which also passes through similar mating lugs will be understood upon reference to Figure 3.- or ears 1 on a ring 8, the ring being thereby piv- At diametrically opposite points on the inner otally or hingedly mounted upon the head to be circumference of the inner 'ring are mounted so by a rivet or equivalent device 26 to one side of the block 22, as clearly shown in Figure 4 and to the opposite side of the block a sight bar 21 is secured by a rivet or the like 28. A machine gun 29 of any approved detail construction is inserted through and carried by the clamping bands 24 and the sight bar 21 is arranged parallel with the gun, as will be understood. It will be readily understood that the sight bar is close to the gun and the gun and the sight bar will always be pointed in the same direction and to further guard against deviation in the relation of the sight bar to the gun, a bracket 30 is provided at one side of the block 22 and is secured to the gun and the sight bar so as to rigidly connect the same and cooperate with the rivet 28 to support the sight bar in the, proper relation to the gun. A search light 3| is mounted upon the block 22 in any convenient manner and is maintained in parallelism withthe gun and the sight bar and is disposed adjacent the sight bar, as will be understood.

When the gun is operated in daylight, the sight bar will be used for aiming the gun, but when used at night, the search light will be brought into use. The search light, of course, will be connected through proper electrical conductors with a battery or other source of electrical energy which may be mounted upon the pedestal or may be part of a generating plant at the location of the gun.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be readily seen that I have provided a very simple mechanism whereby a gun and sighting elements may be easily manipulated and will be firmly supported in all positions. By properly rotating the pinion l3, the rack II will be caused to turn the ring 8 to any desired position and the gun and parts mounted in said ring will, of course, be correspondingly adjusted. At the same time, the gun may be turned pivotaliy about the rod 2| so that it may be quickly turned upon an approaching aircraft. The movement about the center 2| is obviously limited as the firing end of the gun will be brought into contact with the head 3, as shown by the dotted lines inFigure 1, so that when it becomes necessary to fire at, an aircraft which is directly overhead the shaft 12 must be turned so as to eflectadjustment through movement of the rack I I, as will be understood. When the gun is to be fired at an aircraft which is directly approaching the gun, it has been found to be desirable to turn the gun upon its side with respect to the normal position r of the sight bar and this adjustment is effected bymerely rotating the inner ring it within the outer supporting ring 8. While a firm and readily adJusted support for the gun and sighting elements is provided, the parts are so disposed that there is no interference whatever with the firing of the gun and it may be manipulated as rapidly as a gun mounted in a fixed support.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. In apparatus for the purpose stated, a fixed 5 support, an outer ring pivoted upon the support to extend vertically above the same or laterally therefrom and having spaced seats in its inner circumference, rollers mounted in said seats, an inner ring having an annular groove in its outer l0 circumference engaging said rollers whereby the inner ring will be held against separation from the outer ring and may rotate therein, a pivot rod mounted diametrically within the inner ring, and a gun carried by said rod to rock about the 15 same.

2. In apparatus for'the purpose stated, a fixed pedestal, a head swiveled in the upper end of the pedestal and having a cavity opening through its upper end and an arcuate passage extending 20 through said head and communicating with the lower end of said cavity, a ring pivotally mounted upon the upper end of the head to extend vertically over the head or horizontally at the side thereof, a gun carried by the ring, an arcuate 25 rack bar extending from the ring through the arcuate passage in the head, a pinion in the lower end of the cavity in the head meshing with said rack bar, means on the head for rotating said pinion, and means mounted in the head for hold- 39 ing said pinion against rotation at will.

3. In apparatus for the purpose stated, a stationary pedestal, a head mounted on the pedestal for rotation about a vertical axis, a ring pivoted at a point on its outer circumference upon the 35 side of the head at the upper end of the head to extend vertically above the head or horizontally at the side of the same, means for securing said ring in a set position, a second ring disposed concentrically within the first-mentioned ring and 40 held therein for rotation about the common axis of the two rings, a rod secured diametrically within the second ring and a gun mounted on said rod to rock about the same and extending through the rings at a right angle to said rod and atone side of the same.

4. In apparatus for the purpose stated, a fixed support, a pair of concentric rings, the outer ring being pivoted on the support to extend above the same or laterally therefrom, means 59 rotatably mounting the inner ring within the outer ring, and a gun mounted pivotaliy through the inner ring eccentrically to a diameter thereof and adapted to rock about the said diameter thereof. a

5. In apparatus for the purpose stated, a support, an outer ring pivoted to said support, an inner ring rotatably mounted in the outer ring concentric thereto, a pivot rod mounted in said ring on a diameter thereof, a block midway the length of said rod to rock thereon, means for preventing endwise movement of said block along the rod, and a gun carried by said block at one side of the pivot rod and extending at a right 5 angle to the pivot rod.

WILLIAM W. FERGUS. [LBJ I 

